603,
That sounds like a plan.
If you've ordered another FL die then all good, makes sense to see if that makes a difference. To clarify, your current Redding die sounds fine, it's mine that works the brass more than I prefer. My Forster with the expander ball removed is the best of all three specs however.
As for whether the splits are coming from a short chamber neck, here's something that might interest. I picked up a neck length gauge a while back. It's a machined plug that interference fits into a deliberately shortened neck. You pull the plug out proud and then load it into the breech. As it goes into battery the chamber's neck pushes the plug in to its dimension. Then you carefully extract it to measure. The one in the picture is for .223.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]19915[/ATTACH]
I read somewhere of a hack where you can do something similar with a bullet loaded short into a hacksawed neck. Then file the off-cut neck ring thinner and slide that onto the bullet. When loaded into battery it does the same thing as the gauge above - pushes the ring further onto the bullet. Gently unload and measure base-to-ring. Never tried it however so can't comment further.
It's one thing to hope your barrel has been machined within specs, but another to actually know.
That sounds like a plan.
If you've ordered another FL die then all good, makes sense to see if that makes a difference. To clarify, your current Redding die sounds fine, it's mine that works the brass more than I prefer. My Forster with the expander ball removed is the best of all three specs however.
As for whether the splits are coming from a short chamber neck, here's something that might interest. I picked up a neck length gauge a while back. It's a machined plug that interference fits into a deliberately shortened neck. You pull the plug out proud and then load it into the breech. As it goes into battery the chamber's neck pushes the plug in to its dimension. Then you carefully extract it to measure. The one in the picture is for .223.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]19915[/ATTACH]
I read somewhere of a hack where you can do something similar with a bullet loaded short into a hacksawed neck. Then file the off-cut neck ring thinner and slide that onto the bullet. When loaded into battery it does the same thing as the gauge above - pushes the ring further onto the bullet. Gently unload and measure base-to-ring. Never tried it however so can't comment further.
It's one thing to hope your barrel has been machined within specs, but another to actually know.